On Wednesday, all 33 Peace Corps trainees said good-bye to our host families and caravaned down to Lome.  Saying good-bye was sad, as I have a fantastic host family who has embraced me as a friend and sister.

The official swear in ceremony was Thursday.  We dressed in our best African complets, and met at the country directors house.  The US ambassador, several Togolese ministers, and other important people like our host families were in invited.  We trainees dressed in our best new African complets and gave speeches in the local languages of our posts (not French).  The event was televised, and the hostel staff commented on the tv show this morning.  We swore to defend the constitution of the United States and now we are official volunteers.

On Monday we are driving up to our posts, our real homes for 2 years.  I know I am thrilled to begin work and to finally unpack.  I know many of you are eager to hear about the actual work I will be doing, and I hope to write about that soon.  In the meantime, one of my fellow volunteers has posted some pictures which I will refer you to get some ideas of our training experience.

http://picasaweb.google.com/david.ganske/PeaceCorpsTogo

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